Mitt rips Obama camp's 'dishonesty'

Mitt Romney on Monday accused President Barack Obama of running a “campaign based on falsehood and dishonesty,” while brushing aside suggestions from anxious conservatives to release more than two years of tax returns.

“A campaign based on falsehood and dishonesty does not have long legs,” Romney said on “Fox and Friends,” later adding: “The president only has one thing going, and that is constant attacks on me. They’re dishonest. They’re misdirected. And I think the American people recognize that kind of politics as something of the past. It may work in Chicago, but it’s not going to work across America.”

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The presumptive Republican nominee also dismissed calls from some in the GOP to release more of his tax returns, arguing it would only give the Obama campaign “more things to pick through, more things for their opposition research to make a mountain out of, and to distort and to be dishonest about.”

“If we want to talk about transparency, the real issue is, why has this president used his presidential power and executive privilege to keep the information about the Fast and Furious program from being explained to the American people?” the former Massachusetts governor said, referring to Obama’s assertion of executive privilege over documents related to the disastrous “gun-walking” operation.

Romney also responded to former Obama chief of staff and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s call for Romney to “ stop whining” when the Obama campaign attacks him. “I think when people accuse you of a crime, you have every reason to go after them pretty hard,” Romney said in response to the Chicago mayor.

The Washington Post reported Monday the Romney campaign was trying to move past a week of talking about the candidate’s years working at Bain Capital by launching a new wave of attacks accusing the Obama administration of handing out business to campaign donors while middle-class families suffered.

“I think it’s wrong. I think it stinks to high heaven. I think the administration has to explain how it is they would consider giving money to campaign contributors,” Romney said on Fox.